1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an ice discharging structure of an ice making mechanism, for example, an ice discharging structure of an ice making mechanism of an open cell type automatic ice making machine which supplies ice making water by spraying from below on a large number of ice making chambers opening downward so as to make ice blocks continuously.
2. Description of the Related Art
An spray type automatic ice making machine which supplies ice making water by spraying from below on a large number of ice making chambers opening downward so as to make ice blocks continuously is widely used in a kitchen of facilities such as a coffee shop, a restaurant or the like. As shown in FIG. 13 or 14, for an ice making mechanism 10 of the spray type automatic ice making machine, an ice making mechanism, called “open cell type”, which makes ice while an ice making chamber 18 is opened during the ice making process, is available. The ice making mechanism 10 comprises a box-like ice making section case 12 on one side of which an opening 12a is provided. Below the ice making section case 12, an ice making water tank 24 for retaining ice making water W is provided so that the lower end portion of the ice making section case 12 is inserted in the ice making water tank 24. Inside the ice making section case 12, a sprinkler 26 which has a plurality of water sprinkling nozzles 28 for spraying ice making water W upward is provided on the lower side, and an ice making section 16 having a plurality of ice making chambers 18 opening downward corresponding to the water sprinkling nozzles 28 is provided on the upper side in the ice making section case 12. On the top face of the ice making section 16, an evaporation pipe 20 communicating with a refrigerating system (not shown) is meanderingly arranged in tight contact so as to cool the ice making chamber 18 forcibly by circulating a coolant therethrough during the ice making operation.
In addition, in the ice making section case 12, between the ice making section 16 and the sprinkler 26, a duckboard-like ice chute 22 which opens toward the top of the water sprinkling nozzle 28 is provided, inclined downward to the opening 12a of the ice making section case 12. In the opening 12a, a plurality of separators 14 rockably engaged with the ice making section case 12 by their upper end portions are arranged in parallel with the width direction of the opening 12a. The separator 14, which is normally hanged down by gravity, closes the opening 12a by bringing an inner face 14a of the open end (lower end portion) of the separator 14 into contact with an opposing end face 22a of the ice chute 22 (for example, see Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2002-228311). Furthermore, a pumping motor 40 is connected to the bottom of the ice making water tank 24 through an inlet pipe 42, and the pumping motor 40 is configured so as to send ice making water W by pressure to the sprinkler 26 through a discharge pipe 44 to spray the ice making water W from each of the water sprinkling nozzles 28 on the corresponding ice making chamber 18. The ice making water which has not frozen yet in the ice making chamber 18 (unfrozen water) is then collected in the ice making water tank 24 to be circulated again.
A brief description is given for the operation of the ice making mechanism 10 according to the above-mentioned configuration. When the ice making operation starts, a coolant is circulated through the evaporation pipe 20 so as to cool the ice making chamber 18 forcibly. Also, the ice making water W in the ice making water tank 24 is sent by pressure by the pumping motor 40 so as to be supplied by spraying to the ice making chamber 18 through the water sprinkling nozzle 28. A part of the ice making water W is cooled on the inner surface of the ice making chamber 18 to start freezing in layers. In this case, the unfrozen water which has not frozen yet is collected in the ice making water tank 24. An ice block I is formed in the ice making chamber 18 as the ice making operation proceeds, which is detected by a required sensor, switching to the deicing operation, hot gas is supplied through the evaporation pipe 20 so as to warm the ice making chamber 18. The ice block I dropping down by separation from each of the ice making chambers 18 falls onto the ice chute 22 and slides off obliquely downwardly to be led to the opening 12a. The ice block I pushes the separator 14 open by its own weight so as to be discharged from the inside of the ice making section case 12 to an ice storage house (omitted in the drawing).
As described above, the end face 22a of the ice chute 22 facing the opening 12a of the ice making section case 12 is in tight contact with the inner face 14a of the separator 14 so that the ice making water W to be sprayed during the ice making operation is prevented from being scattered to the outside of the ice making section case 12 from the opening 12a. However, since the end face 22a of the ice chute 22 is in face contact with the inner face 14a of the separator 14 (see FIG. 14), the surface tension exerted on the ice making water W getting through the gap is relatively strong, so that the end face 22a of the ice chute 22 sometimes sticks to the inner face 14a of the separator 14. Therefore, the separator 14 cannot be opened by the weight of the ice block I during the deicing process of the ice block I, so that the ice block I is caught in the opening 12a. The ice block I caught in the opening 12a is deformed by getting the ice making water W thereon during the following ice making process and consequently, an ice block W of an expected shape cannot be obtained.
In contrast, in a structure in which the inner face 14a of the separator 14 is in no contact with the ice chute 22, the force of the scattered ice making water W rocks the separator 14, the ice making water W cannot be prevented from being scattered to the outside of the ice making section case 12. Specifically, the structure is disadvantageous in that the scattered ice making water W melts the ice block I retained in the ice storage house. Also, if the ice making water W which has not frozen yet cannot be collected in the ice making water tank 24, a decrease in the volume of ice making water required for a single ice making process causes a water shortage. It should be noted that if the tank 24 is extended so that the ice making water W leaking out of the gap between the separator 14 and the ice chute 22 can be received by the ice making water tank 24, there is a risk that the ice block I discharged from the opening 12a might be caught.